James Pearce Jr. - Edge - Tennessee

It's safe to say we will be out of the Abdul Carter and Mason Graham sweepstakes picking at 11. There's a small chance that either Kelvin Banks, Will Campbell or Will Johnson fall which would be the next most natural picks based on value and need - absolute slam dunks. The 2 most likely options to me that would be the next best choices are Tyler Warren / Malaki Stark (debatable given position value) OR the clear cut next best DL who by draft day will be........ James Pearce Jr.

Pearce Jr. is the closest thing to Brian Burns since Brian Burns entered the NFL. He's a bit on the lean size, incredibly explosive, can bend the edge as well as any edge in the draft, has a wide array of pass rush moves, and leads every pass rush efficiency metric. Outside of Abdul Carter he's the only player in this draft I feel confident about being a 10+ sack per year player. He had 10 sacks last year and stock dropped a bit with 7.5 this year but unlike many of these other guys all of his sacks were against top SEC competition. Biggest reason for his dip was he only played a handful of snaps in 4 games against cupcake teams. Biggest knocks on him would be his weight (243 vs Burns who was 249) and playing a bit too agressive / out of control at times which caused him to miss some tackles on the qb leaving sacks on the table. I don't think his number (27) does him any favors making him look like a DB but those - much like it was for Brian Burns - are fixable and overblown as an edge rusher.

If you look at most draft-niks today they'll have 3 other edges over him (not including Abdul Carter) but IMO the offseason will sort through this....

Mykel Williams - Great athlete but so raw and lacks basic pass rush repertoire - complete boom / bust gamble that's a rd 1 fit for a team with that appetite but rich for pick 11.,

Nic Scourton - A run stuffing DE with limited pass rush ability - laughable to me that he'd even be considered in the top 15 as can see him falling to rd 2

Jalon Walker - Very productive if you're stat watching but so rarely flashes and dominates individually, seems like a high motor chase guy on a great defense which also wouldn't touch in rd 1.

If we can't come away with any of the blue chip guys at positions of need then this is the player I would bet the bank on becoming a blue chip player in the NFL.

I think he's edge3 and wouldn't be mad at it

Who was that smallish DE for Atlanta a few years back that had a few good years? Thing he had like 15 sacks one year, but was kind of a one trick pony from what I recall

nvm Vic Beasley

Originally posted by Hoovtrain:
Who was that smallish DE for Atlanta a few years back that had a few good years? Thing he had like 15 sacks one year, but was kind of a one trick pony from what I recall

Vic Beasley

Originally posted by adrianlesnar:
I think he's edge3 and wouldn't be mad at it

+1

Originally posted by 49oz2superbowl:
It's safe to say we will be out of the Abdul Carter and Mason Graham sweepstakes picking at 11. There's a small chance that either Kelvin Banks, Will Campbell or Will Johnson fall which would be the next most natural picks based on value and need - absolute slam dunks. The 2 most likely options to me that would be the next best choices are Tyler Warren / Malaki Stark (debatable given position value) OR the clear cut next best DL who by draft day will be........ James Pearce Jr.

Pearce Jr. is the closest thing to Brian Burns since Brian Burns entered the NFL. He's a bit on the lean size, incredibly explosive, can bend the edge as well as any edge in the draft, has a wide array of pass rush moves, and leads every pass rush efficiency metric. Outside of Abdul Carter he's the only player in this draft I feel confident about being a 10+ sack per year player. He had 10 sacks last year and stock dropped a bit with 7.5 this year but unlike many of these other guys all of his sacks were against top SEC competition. Biggest reason for his dip was he only played a handful of snaps in 4 games against cupcake teams. Biggest knocks on him would be his weight (243 vs Burns who was 249) and playing a bit too agressive / out of control at times which caused him to miss some tackles on the qb leaving sacks on the table. I don't think his number (27) does him any favors making him look like a DB but those - much like it was for Brian Burns - are fixable and overblown as an edge rusher.

If you look at most draft-niks today they'll have 3 other edges over him (not including Abdul Carter) but IMO the offseason will sort through this....

Mykel Williams - Great athlete but so raw and lacks basic pass rush repertoire - complete boom / bust gamble that's a rd 1 fit for a team with that appetite but rich for pick 11.,

Nic Scourton - A run stuffing DE with limited pass rush ability - laughable to me that he'd even be considered in the top 15 as can see him falling to rd 2

Jalon Walker - Very productive if you're stat watching but so rarely flashes and dominates individually, seems like a high motor chase guy on a great defense which also wouldn't touch in rd 1.

If we can't come away with any of the blue chip guys at positions of need then this is the player I would bet the bank on becoming a blue chip player in the NFL.

Nice write up on Pearce and the other players - thank you! Giving us more to think about. Going to be very interesting to see what the Niners do at #11.